Foreign affairs has
stepped in to help a New Zealand
man serving a 20-year jail term in Cambodia for multiple sex
offences.

The official
involvement follows concerns about evidence used to convict former aid worker
Graham Cleghorn and the way his recent appeal was handled.

Cleghorn, 55, was
sentenced in 2004, but his lawyer says he was set up, and his recent appeal
breached all known human rights.

Convicted of raping
five young women, Cleghorn was granted an appeal last month, but wasn't told
of it and wasn't represented.

"He was set up. A
number of young girls from the village where he lives were kidnapped and were
detained for 15 days and were told they would only be released if they made
allegations against him," says Greg King, Cleghorn's New Zealand-based
lawyer.

He says the five girls
were offered $US10,000 to lie by someone Cleghorn was in a land dispute with.

Cleghorn and his wife
now risk losing their home, and have to pay the alleged victims $US2,000
each.

But the Cleghorns want
to present new evidence - other women from the village who were made the same
offer to lie say they know the victims are lying too.

The Ministry of Foreign
Affairs had concerns from the start when Cleghorn's trial lasted only nine
hours and his Cambodian lawyer didn't say a word. King has called the trial
process "an absolute sham".

New
Zealand's ambassador in Bangkok
has now met with Cambodian officials to raise concerns about the case.

The ministry says it
only learnt of last month's appeal in the past week, and by international
standards it breaches Graham Cleghorn's right to a fair hearing.

The ministry is
awaiting a response, but if that fails, King says he will take the case to
the United Nations.

Greg King:"He
was set up""The trial
process itself was an absolute sham"